Sony has issued a clarification on the news that recently surfaced which suggested that only one PlayStation Network ID could be used per PlayStation Vita.

As it turns out, multiple PlayStation Network IDs can be used on a single PlayStation Vita, but you’ll be required to have mutliple memory cards to do so. Crystal MacKenzie, associate brand marketing manager at Sony, told Wired’s Game|Life in a statement:

“Your PSN ID is bonded to your memory card and your memory card is bonded to your Vita,” MacKenzie said. “So if you wanted to change different PSN users but use the same memory card, you would need to go factory reset.”

You can use additional memory cards to create new PlayStation Network IDs or import existing ones, and you can even tie the same PSN ID to multiple memory cards, MacKenzie explained.

If you want to, say, import one PlayStation Network ID to another, you’ll still have to reformat the memory card you’re importing to if it already has a PSN ID attached to it.

Unless you’re content with going with the low-end memory card, having to purchase multiple memory cards to store multiple PSN IDs can be expensive. Sony recently revealed the pricing in the US for their lineup of memory cards, and they put the 4GB model at $29.99; the 8GB model at $44.99; 16GB for $69.99 and 32GB for $119.99.

Source: Wired Game|Life

PlayStation Vita supports multiple PSN IDs, Sony says is a post from: The Inquisitr

Sony is no doubt currently hard at work on developing their next generation console, and it looks like they’re considering some interesting new controller features for current and possibly upcoming controllers – and even handhelds.

Siliconera managed to dig up a patent filing from Sony that suggests the company is looking into adding biometric data sensors onto controllers and handhelds, which will function similarly to Nintendo’s apparently scrapped “Vitality Sensor”.

According to the patent filing, the sensors will monitor “galvanic skin resistance, electrocardio data, and electro-muscular data”. In more simple terms, the sensor will try to determine your mood based on sweat, heart rate, and your muscle movements.

This would allow for the possibility of the game adjusting difficulty based on how stressed you are, for example. Other examples include the possibility of your character sweating when you start sweating, attacks that are adjusted based on your muscle tension, or even the ability to tense your muscles to block or shield your character from an attack.

Just because Sony filed the patent doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll be seeing new hardware or peripherals using this tech anytime soon, if even at all, but the idea is certainly an interesting one. Assuming that it actually works, developers could do some really interesting things with it, provided they don’t get too gimmicky with it. If biometric feedback is used in more subtle ways, it could help serve to bump up immersion to a whole new level.

What do you think? Would you be interested in a controller with a biometric sensor?

Credit: Siliconera

Sony files patent for biometric controller, handheld tech is a post from: The Inquisitr

PlayStation Suite is a smartphone/tablet app for two Sony tablets, the Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY smartphone, and Google’s Android platform. However, Hirai and his fellow Sony execs would like to see it expanded to other devices:

“This isn’t an ecosystem where we want to keep everything within the Sony family. This is not just for Sony devices.”

Sony’s PlayStation Suite is the company’s answer to the increasingly popularity of cheap app games, which have overtaken dedicated gaming devices such as Sony’s PSP and Nintendo’s series of DS/3DS handhelds. As Hirai acknowledges, “[Smartphone games] have had an impact on the traditional videogame market.”

Sony’s dalliance with bringing games to other devices goes back years, right back to the ill-fated PSX. The company’s Xperia Play smartphone released last year with a slide-out game controller and played PSOne games.

Increasingly, game developers are expanding their games to other platforms. A future where we play Sony and Nintendo games on Apple and Samsung devices suddenly doesn’t seem so far-fetched.

Kazuo Hirai: PlayStation Games Coming to Other Devices is a post from: The Inquisitr

While rumors of a next generation Xbox swirl around and the Wii U tries to get some gamer love the head US honcho for PlayStation throws a big bucket of cool water on any dreams of a next generation PlayStation console.

In an interview with Forbes the boss of PlayStation US Jack Tretton says that they aren’t intimidated in the slightest by the moves being made by Nintendo or the rumors around Microsoft’s Xbox. In fact as far Tretton is concerned the rest of the pack are just catching up with where the PS3 has been for years.

“Our attitude is kind of ‘welcome to the party.’ If you’re looking at being a multimedia entertainment device, if you’re looking at high def gaming, that was 2006 for us.”

Tretton said that Sony will be focusing mostly on the PlayStation 3 and Vita for right now, adding that he believes the company’s current products are still on the cutting edge. “What we’ve seen from competition is trying to add features that already exist in PlayStation 3,” said Tretton.

“We invested heavily in that, we rolled a very heavy rock up a steep hill, through the launch period. But now I think that all pays off, and we’ve got a long run way behind it. So, I wouldn’t look for any discussion of a next generation PlayStation for quite some time.”

via CrunchGear

 

Don’t count on a PS4 anytime soon says Playstation bossman is a post from: The Inquisitr

In an exclusive reveal over on IGN, Naughty Dog detailed the features available and the beta, and boy is it expansive. To be included in the beta will be nine multiplayer modes: Team Deathmatch, 3-Team Deathmatch, Team Objective, Free For All, Plunder, High Stakes, and three yet to be revealed co-op modes.

Team Deathmatch, Team Objective and Plunder will allow up to five players per team, 3-Team Deathmatch allows for three teams of two, and Free For All and High Stakes allow for up to eight players. All nine of the multiplayer modes will take place across two maps: Airfield and Chateau.

Also detailed in today’s blow-out are the multiplayer’s “power plays”. In case you forgot just what that was all about, power plays are brief events designed to give the losing team a leg up over the winning team. Some of the power plays detailed in the reveal include Marked Man (a person in the winning team is marked, awarding the opposing team additional points if they get taken out) and Crused (all characters visible by the winning team turn into skeletons, and friendly fire is turned on).

All these features are well and good, but the question on most of your minds — including my own, admittedly — is likely just when we’ll be able to get our grubby hands on the beta. If you have a voucher from inFAMOUS 2 or a PlayStation Plus subscription, you’ll get your access to the beta beginning June 28. If you’re without a PS Plus subscription or a voucher, you’ll have to sit and wait until July 4 to download it. The beta is expected to run until July 13.

There’s quite a bit more details from the big reveal so if you’d like to know more, head over to IGN to get the full low-down.

Uncharted 3 Beta Details Revealed is a post from: The Inquisitr

Sony executives are always blathering about how the PlayStation 3 will have a ten-year life cycle, and we gamers always give the same response: we laugh in their faces, and call Sony’s mom rude names. But maybe we’re the deluded ones in this situation. Maybe Sony knows something.

If the PlayStation 2 is anything to go by, we should stop scoffing now, because Sony has revealed it recently sold the 150 millionth PS2, eleven years after the system first debuted. Again, that’s ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILLION. Sony’s sleek black monolith became the best-selling home console ever a while back, and now another landmark has been reached.

See also: 10 PlayStation 2 games you MUST own

[Via press release]

Er, wow: Sony sells 150 millionth PlayStation 2 is a post from: The Inquisitr

The creepy and unsettling image making the rounds last week that purportedly depicted a zombie-like creature lurking in a Louisiana backwater was, surprise surprise, a viral marketing campaign for an upcoming game, Resistance 3.

As the story goes, a hunting stand out in the middle of nowhere had a digital camera set up, and the shots of the thing were captured before it smashed the camera up, leaving the memory card intact. The freaked out camera owner posted the pics to a gaming website, as you do when you encounter a pants-peeable cryptid in the middle of nowhere and it could have followed you home.

Playstation Lifestyle connected the “sighting” to this tweet from Insomniac Games about the upcoming release of Resistance 3:

Whoops… looks like one got out. If you see a Grim on the loose… please return to Insomniac Games, Burbank, CA: http://bit.ly/fqGoXX #fb

While the tale’s debunking hasn’t gotten much attention, the original story hit many mainstream media outlets, including several local affiliate news shows and Britain’s Daily Mail.

Creepy, unidentified Louisiana beast is viral videogame advert is a post from: The Inquisitr

At $40, this plastic housing for your Move controller is almost as costly as another Move controller. While this is obviously redundant crap like 99% of controller shells, I do love how its GRAY MILITARY SERIOUSNESS is completely undermined by the Move’s bulbous light-up ball sticking out of the muzzle like a comedy nose.

The Sharp Shooter also features an adjustable shoulder stock, supposedly realistic pump action, a digital trigger, and a firing mode selector, whatever the hell that last one means. I guess Sony are hoping to tempt a few Killzone 3 fans to cough up when the game releases in February 2011 with Move compatibility.

Me? I’ll be sticking to the new jungle green DualShock 3, which is also due to launch alongside Killzone 3:

See also: I seeeeee you: New sniper rifle released for Wii

[Via press release]

Sony unveils official PlayStation Move machine gun is a post from: The Inquisitr

PlayStation Phone Leaked With Prototype Photo is a post from: The Inquisitr

While at this moment in time it may appear that Microsoft and Sony are solely focused on 3D gaming and motion controls, former Sony Europe boss David Reeves (now at Capcom) spoke with GameIndustry.biz and led them to believe that the next generation of gaming consoles were on the way and would arrive in 2012 or 2013.

While making his predictions Reeves said:

“All the first-parties have got to be working on something. The tricky thing is when do you put a stake in the ground on technology? That’s the problem. You can be waiting a few extra months to implement something, but you’ve got to set a date to go with a certain chip at a certain point otherwise you’re going to miss the key milestones.”

Reeves was also asked about 3D gaming and he mentioned how simple it is to take a 2D game and turn it 3D. However he also adds that entire games probably won’t be featured in 3D, instead relying on certain sequences for 3D purposes.

I have to agree with his assessment as some individuals have felt sick after watching 3D movies and the intensity of such games could make matters worse and alienate some players.

In any case, with Kinect on the way and Sony focusing on 3D gaming options, it should be interesting to see what occurs over the next 2 to 3 years.

What do you think, is it time for next-generation systems to arrive?

David Reeves: Sony and Microsoft Delivering New Gaming Consoles By 2013 is a post from: The Inquisitr

As Duncan mentioned last night, PlayStation 3 users have been slightly displeased with the unscheduled “scheduled downtime” that turned into a day or more without working consoles this weekend.

Also mentioned was Sony’s lack of information on the errors encountered by PS3 users, driving people to Twitter en masse to bitch about their borked PlayStations. The bug appears to be due to a clock syncing error, and while it seems slim PS3s aren’t experiencing the same difficulties, Sony has advised users not to use PlayStation 3 consoles for a 24 hour period: (Edit: Again, Sony has not specified exact times for the “24 hour period.”)

We hope to resolve this problem within the next 24 hours. In the meantime, if you have a model other than the new slim PS3, we advise that you do not use your PS3 system, as doing so may result in errors in some functionality, such as recording obtained trophies, and not being able to restore certain data.

Sony listed the following errors as common during the latest batch of PS3 problems:

The date of the PS3 system may be re-set to Jan 1, 2000.

When the user tries to sign in to the PlayStation Network, the following message appears on the screen; “An error has occurred. You have been signed out of PlayStation Network (8001050F)”.

When the user tries to launch a game, the following error message appears on the screen and the trophy data may disappear; “Failed to install trophies. Please exit your game.”

When the user tries to set the time and date of the system via the Internet, the following message appears on the screen; “The current date and time could not be obtained. (8001050F)”

Users are not able to play back certain rental video downloaded from the PlayStation Store before the expiration date.

Sony has asked that users check in with the PlayStation status blog before powering their units back on, which you can do here. Sony’s PlayStation Twitter can be found here.

Sony says: Don’t use your PlayStation yet! is a post from: The Inquisitr

The growing popularity of the PS3 hasn’t gone unnoticed today with downtime causing users to hit Twitter.

PlayStation Network down messages complained of little notice from Sony on the downtime, and there are some suggestions from users that the network has been deleting trophies.

At this stage all we have to go on is a message of the official PS3 blog noting that the network is down for maintenance “for 60 minutes,” although oddly the message doesn’t suggest when this period started or is scheduled to end. (UPDATE: see end)

Some PlayStation Network users on Twitter are suggesting that the maintenance message is a cover-up for the network being down without warning.

At the time of writing, I can contact the network from Australia, so it might just be affecting the US servers.

Look on the bright side though (if you’re a PS3 user like I am:) it’s not as though the PlayStation Network is down nearly as regularly as the XBox Live service is

UPDATE: maybe the conspiracy theories might be right: the network status blog is down now as well,although it might just be people hitting it for news.

Sony has also posted to the PlayStation Twitter account that “We’re aware that many of you are having problems connecting to PSN, and yes, we’re looking into it. Stay tuned for updates.”

More when we have it.

Update 2: problems are still ongoing as at 6:30pm PST (1:30pm AEDT.) Also I can’t connect from Australia so it’s widespread. No new update from Sony as yet on the issue.

Update 3: latest from Sony, PS3 slim units are connecting, and I can connect here from Australia on a slim as at 9pm PST (4pm AEDT). Wondering why the connection issues might be with old PS3′s though?

Don’t Panic: PlayStation Network Down is a post from: The Inquisitr

“PS3 motion controller”

It’s a handful to write (21 characters, including spaces), so as a jaded blogger, I can only hope the latest rumor regarding the (sigh) PS3 motion controller is true. Apparently, it might be called ‘Arc’. Ooh, three letters. Lovely. Arc. Arc. Arc. This is easy!

“Looks like THQ CEO Brian Farrell just called Sony’s Motion Controller the PlayStation Arc. Sources told VG247 last month that it was called the PlayStation Arc, and Farrell called it that twice in THQ’s Q3 2010 financial call tonight.”

So yeah, it looks like being the PlayStation Arc. Actually a pretty great name, if you ask me. Now they just need to work on making it look far less ridiculous.

[Via VG247]

Official name for PS3 motion controller probably revealed is a post from: The Inquisitr

That seems a little low to me, even taking into account the recent delay of the controller, from spring to fall. It also means those ten or so games will be lost in the absolute clusterfuck of games released in the last three months of every calendar year. Hm.

As for what these games will be, Nikkei says that sports and pet games will make up some of the ten titles. What we do know is that the following have been announced as including support for the as-yet-unnamed Motion Controller:

- Ape Escape (working title)
- Echochrome 2 (working title)
- Eccentric Slider (working title)
- Sing and Draw (working title)
- Champions of Time (working title)
- Motion Party (working title)
- The Shoot (working title)
- Tower (working title)
- Under Siege

[Nikkei, via Andriasang]

Sony’s PS3 motion controller getting “around ten” games this year is a post from: The Inquisitr

Here’s Kaz Hirai, the biggest of cheeses at Sony Computer Entertainment:

“We have decided to release the Motion Controller in fall 2010 when we will be able to offer an exciting and varied line-up of software titles that will deliver the new entertainment experience to PS3 users.”

Maybe I’m calling this wrong, but to me Sony (and Microsoft, with Project Natal) is already late to the motion control party. I’m pretty sure Wii fever (and let’s face it, both Sony and Microsoft are after a slice of the Wii’s pie with their respective projects) has already peaked.

Both the PS3 and Xbox 360 narrowed the Wii’s monthly sales lead in 2009, and how did they manage this? With quality games. I struggle to see this comical controller being Sony’s knight in shining armor.

Still, maybe I’m speculating out of my arse, and hey, nobody truly knows the future. Except, y’know, God. And He knows you look at those websites as well. Yes, you.

[Via press release]

New PS3 motion controller delayed by Sony, does it matter? is a post from: The Inquisitr

This year has seen the Game Boy and the Sega Genesis turn 20, and now the PlayStation brand is 15 years old. On 3 December 1994, Sony launched its first PlayStation in Japan, with a launch line-up that included the likes of Battle Arena Toshinden, Warhawk, Air Combat, and Ridge Racer.

Over the next ten or so years, various PlayStation hardware kicked rival consoles into touch (at least until the Wii marked Nintendo’s triumphant return), producing some of modern gaming’s greatest titles in the process. To celebrate, Sony Japan put up this fun little flash site.

The brand itself drastically changed the way games were marketed, and contributed a hell of a lot to the culture of gaming we all know and love today. And damn, it had some cool adverts, including this memorable “Golfers vs Porn stars” TV spot, which seems oddly topical.

So what’s your favorite PlayStation memory, readers? I’m going with the first Metal Gear Solid, Shadow of the Colossus, and PaRappa the Rapper.

[PlayStation 15th Anniversary]

Happy birthday, PlayStation is a post from: The Inquisitr

I last played Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare on a PS3 some months ago, and always had a riot – COD 4 is one of the most accomplished, polished online shoot-me-dos I’ve encountered.

Sadly, it’s all going to shit now.

Players of the PS3 version are complaining that the online component is now chock-full of hackers who can fly and walk through buildings with unlimited ammunition and no reloads. If you haven’t played it before, that stuff is kind of against the rules. The cheating has rapidly bloomed into something more widespread, thanks to several instructional YouTube videos popping up.

As a result, developer Infinity Ward (who, to its credit, has always listened to the community) has stepped in, Tweeting that “We hear you loud and clear and are investigating the glitchers.”

Modern Warfare 2 might be out this November (and looking like the kipper’s knickers), but I’d still expect Infinity Ward to be pretty sharp about this. You don’t want to piss off a userbase of 13 million-plus gamers.

[Hexus, via Gamestooge]

Hackers running rampant on PS3 Call of Duty 4 is a post from: The Inquisitr

Rumors of a PlayStation mobile phone have resurfaced, with reports in Japan suggesting that the long rumored phone may finally be getting a green light.

Japanese business newspaper Nikkei reported that Sony “plans to set up a project team as early as July to develop a new product that combines functions of its portable game player and Sony Ericsson’s mobile phones.”

The paper claimed that the development of the phone is in direct response to the growing popularity of the iPhone and iPod Touch as a gaming platform, including growing support from leading game designers such as Capcom Co Ltd and Square Enix Holdings. Sony currently produces the PlayStation Portable (PSP).

(via Reuters)

PlayStation phone? It’s a Sony rumor is a post from: The Inquisitr

The company quietly unveiled its new Google Media Server desktop gadget this week. The tool works with the Google Desktop program to find and catalog all videos, music, and photos on your computer — then stream them to any Universal Plug-n-Play devices in your home. The PlayStation 3 is the UpnP device Google engineers specifically mention.

Once set up, you’ll be able to use the system to access any of that media from a TV. It also gives you the option to remotely browse through Picasa albums and watch YouTube videos.

Google Media Server is only available for PCs thus far.

Introducing Google Media Server is a post from: The Inquisitr